Explosively actuated nail driving tool



s. A. TEMPLE ml 2,930,042

EXPLOSIVELY ACTUATED NAIL DRIVING TOOL 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 29, 1960Filed April 9, 1957 J L v L INVENTORS Awel? 1 ma? da alte-r 717104Kdarm, au y uw mrvoenfys Mal'dl 29, 196.0 s. A. TEMPLE ErAL 2,930,042

EXPLOSIVELY ACTUATED NAIL DRIVING TOOL Filed April 9, 1957 4Sheets-Sheet 2 hun! l?- kwa-r E. TEMP mm BY 800:01' 72M 4 Sheets-Sheet 3I Il o //nA/ A A IH ml WWI LSIWIV'MW .WM a 1 in ax, -wml m m Marvwwwwv/wvvvwvy 1 4%/ J n. A y u W m l Il Ill! s WHW v mm 8 u Wm a m m.lwr im: ||II l N: e .Hl h/? Si ,V Il il .a R a S. A. TEMPLE TAI.

EXPLOSIVELY ACTUATED NAIL DRIVING TOOL W. R., al uw,

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EXPLOSIVELY ACTUATED NAIL DRIVIG TOOL Filed April 9, 1957 4 sheets-sheet4 -I'QV'- United States Patent EXPLOSIVELY ACTUATED NAIL DRIVING TOOLStanley A. Temple, Dallas, Tex., and Ernest E. Temple,

Murraysville, and Robert Temple, Swissvale, Pa., assignors, by mesneassignments, to Mine Safety Appliances Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Application April 9, 1957, Serial No.651,718

10 Claims. (Cl. 144.5)

This invention relates to explosively actuated tools for drivingfastening members, and more particularly to such a tool designedprimarily for driving nails.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide an explosivelyactuated tool which can drive nails, which cannot be operatedaccidentally, which is easy to load, in which all of the parts arepermanently connected together, and in which the act of using the toolrenders the safety feature inoperative so that the tool will tire.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of the tool;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side view showing the tool opened for cartridgeloading;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view showing the tool opened for fastenerloading;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal fragmentary section of thetool as shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to the preceding ligure, but looking down onthe tool;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, but with the piston and chuckadjusted forward;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal fragmentary section of thetool as shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 9 is a similar section, but with the tool in tiring position withthe firing pin spring fully compressed just before it is released;

Fig. 10 is a view like Fig. 9, showing the tiring pin driven ahead intotiring position;

Fig. 11 is an enlarged vertical section through the handle taken on theline XI-XI of Fig. 2;

Figs. 12 and 13 are reduced vertical sections taken on the lines XII-XIIand XIII-XIII, respectively of Fig. 8; and

Figs. 14, and 16 are vertical sections taken on the lines XIV-XIV,XV-'XV and XVI- XVI of Fig. 5.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, 8 and 11 of the drawings, the stock of thetool is in the form of a D-handle, provided with a hand grip 1. Oppositethe grip, the stock has a forwardly projecting body portion 2 extendinginto the rear end of a carrier tube 3 that is held in` place by threecap screws 4, the heads of which are disposed in holes in a cylindricalcollar 5 encircling the rear end of the tube. The cap screws also holdthe collar in place. Slidably mounted in the carrier tube directly infront of the stock is a breechblock 6 that is prevented from rotating inthe tube by a cap screw 7 projecting from it into a longitudinal slot 8in the side of the tube (Figs. 2 and 3).

As shown in Fig. 8, the rear end of the breechblock is provided with adeep socket 10 that is connected by an axial passage 11 with a largersocket 12 in the front end of the block. A firing pin 13 is disposed inthe rear socket in line with passage 11. It projects from the front endof a cup 14 slidably mounted on the front end of a rod 15, the rear endof which is screwed into a threaded opening 16 extending through a slide17 that ICC is disposed in an axial bore 18 through the stock body. Therod is held in the correct position in the slide by a pin 19 extendingthrough both of them. The rod and slide form a firing pin support. Thetiring pin is urged forward on the rod by means of a tiring collar 21slidably mounted on the rod behind it and pressed forward by a coilspring 22 compressed between it and a trip ring 23, which is alsoslidably mounted on the rod.

The inoperative or safety position of the tiring pin is one in which thepin, although held in its foremost position on the rod by spring 22, isstill maintained retracted far enough by the rod to prevent it fromprojecting through breechblock passage 11 even if the breechblock isaccidentally pushed back in the carrier tube as far as it will go. Thissafety position of the tiring pin is shown in Fig. 8, which shows slide17 in its rear position, where it normally is held by a coil spring 24compressed between it and the breechblock that simultaneously is held inits front position. In order to move the firing pin forward into firingposition, the slide has to be moved forward in the stock. For thispurpose the rear end of the slide is bifurcated and provided with across pin 25 straddled by the forked lower end of a lever 26. The leverextends upwardly through a slot 27 in the stock and has an intermediateforwardly projecting lug 28 that is pivotally mounted on a pin 29 in theupper part of the stock body. As shown in Fig. 2, the upper end of thelever is pivotally connected by a link 31 to the upper end of a grippinglever 32, the lower end of which is pivotally connected to the bottom ofthe handle by a screw 33 extending through an enlarged opening in thehandle. The gripping lever is inclined upward and forward away from thehandle grip 1. Consequently, when the gripping lever is squeezed by thelingers toward the grip behind it, the lower end of slide lever 26 isswung forward to push the slide ahead in the stock, as shown in Fig. 9.Forward movement of the slide is limited by radial pins 34 projectingfrom the stock body into an annular recess 35 around the outside of theslide. The moment the operator releases gripping lever 32, the slide ispushed back to its original position in the stock by means of coilspring 24.

The front end of spring 24 bears against a shoulder 36 encircling thefront end portion of a tiring spring cornpressor that is formed in fourparts. Two of the parts form segments 37 and 38 of a hollow cylinder,with their side edges spaced apart and with their front ends engagingthe front wall of the rear breechblock socket. The front ends of thesemembers are recessed and tit around a retaining ring 39, which hasrearwardly extending ears 40 (Fig. 12) that project between the sideedges of the segmental members. The front ends of these members areencircled by a spring clip 41. Near their rear ends, the insides of thesegmental members are provided with arcuate shoulders 42 that aretapered in cross section. These shoulders are adapted to be engaged by atapered shoulder 43 on the firing collar when it is moved forward in thebreechblock.

Further forward movement of the rod 15 through the firing collar willcause the tiring spring to be compressed, as shown in Fig. 9 where thespring is shown fully compressed because the stock and carrier tube havebeen pushed forward relative to the breechblock to a point just short oftiring. The trip ring 23 is in contact with the tiring collar, and thetiring pin lightly engages a blank cartridge 45 in front of it. Now,when the stock is pushed ahead only a slight amount, the trip ring 23will force the ring collar 21 to expand the spring com pressor and slidepast its shoulders 42, which is permitted by the fact that the segmentalmembers 37 and 38 are anchored only at their front ends and only by aspring clip that permits their rear ends to be forced apart. The

released tiring collar is then driven by the tiring spring 22 forwardwith considerable force against the tiring pin cup 14, as shown in Fig.10, which thereby is driven forward on the rod to cause the tiring pinto penetrate and detonate the percussion cap in the rear end of thecartridge.

The side wall of the front socket 12 in the breechblock is cut away toform a large notch 47, as shown in Figs. 8 and 13, and the same wall atone edge of this notch is provided with a circumferential slot 48 forreceiving a boss 49 screwed onto the side of the rear end of a barrel 50slidably and rotatably mounted in carrier tube 3. A bayonet joint isthus formed between the barrel and breechblock, which can bedisconnected by rotating the barrel to swing the boss out of the slot sothat the rear end of the barrel can be moved forward out of the socket.The upper half of the carrier tube 3 is cut away for a short distance infront of the breechblock to form an opening 51 giving access to the rearend of the barrel when it is in its forward position. The front wall ofthis opening is engaged by boss 49 to limit the distance the barrel canbe moved forward, as shown in Fig. 3.

The rear end of the axial bore through the barrel is reduced in diameterto form a chamber 52 for receiving the blank cartridge previouslymentioned, as shown in Figs. 5, 8 and 10. A short length of the boredirectly in front of this chamber has a diameter intermediate that ofthe chamber and the rest of the bore to form a combustion chamber 53.The rear end of the barrel may be provided at one side of the cartridgechamber with a cartridge extractor 54 (Figs. 8 and 14) slidably mountedin a small bore 55 extending forward into the barrel. The extractor isurged rearwardly by a coil spring S6 compressed between its inner endand the inner end of the bore, but outward movement is limited by a setscrew 57.

Slidably mounted in the front end of the barrel is a tubular chuck 60for receiving a fastener that is to be driven by this tool. Although thetool can be used for driving studs and other types of fasteners, it isdesigned primarily for driving nails. The front end of the chuck isenlarged to limit the distance it can be pushed into the barrel. Itcannot be removed entirely from the barrel because a set screw 61 in theside of the barrel projects into a longitudinal groove 62 in the side ofthe chuck. As shown in Figs. to 7, the chuck is frictionally engaged bya spring ring 63 mounted in a groove in the inside of the barrel, sothat the chuck will stay in any position in which it is placed relativeto the barrel. The rear half of the chuck is separated into threesegments by longitudinally extending slots 64. Near its rear end, theinside of the chuck is provided with a shoulder 65, the rear face ofwhich is adapted to be engaged by the head of a nail 66, that extendsforward through the chuck. The segments of the chuck will spread apartenough to allow the head to pass the shoulder when the tool is tired.

When it is desired to insert a nail in the chuck, the chuck is pulledout of the barrel as far as it will come (the broken line position ofFig. 4) and then the nail can be inserted in its rear end through arather wide slot 67 in the side wall of the barrel. The upper slot 64 inthe chuck is wide enough to allow the nail to enter the chuck at anangle. The chuck is then pushed back into the barrel, when the head ofthe nail will engage the front end of a plunger to hold the head againstchuck shoulder 65 with the point of the nail centered in the chuck. Thefront part of the plunger is a piston rod 68, the rear end of which isjoined to a piston 69 that has a reduced rear extension 70 fitting inthe combustion chamber. In its high pressure or rear position shown inFigs. 5 and 6, the rear end of the piston extension is spaced only ashort distance from the rear end of the combustion chamber. When thecartridge is fired, the gases expanding in this chamber will drive thepiston ahead, and the piston rod will drive the nail through the chuckand into the member against which the front end of the chuck is held.The piston will be stopped by the chuck if it is not stopped sooner bythe nail coming to rest. The outer end of the chuck is designed forholding a shield, if desired.

Another feature of this invention is that the size of the combustionchamber can be varied in order to control the force with which the nailis driven. Accordingly, as shown in Figs. 6, 7, 15 and 16, the outsideof the barrel is provided with a groove 72 extending lengthwise of itfor most of its length, and in this groove a small bar 73 is slidablymounted. The front end of the bar substantially engages the enlargedfront end of the chuck. The rear end of the bar has a stop 74 thatprojects into the barrel through a slot 75 at the rear end of thegroove. The stop projects behind the shoulder formed between piston 69and its extension, and thereby limits rearward movement of the piston inthe barrel. The outer surface of the front end of the bar is providedwith several screw thread segments 76, a couple of which are engaged bythe threads inside of a ring 77 rotatably mounted on the barrel. Y Thering may be prevented from moving lengthwise of the barrel by clampingrings 78 encircling the barrel at opposite ends of the ring.

When the threaded ring is turned, it will cause the bar to movelengthwise of the barrel groove. When the bar stop 74 is pulled ahead,it will push the plunger forward to increase the effective length of thecombustion chamber behind the piston extension. At the same time, thefront end of the advancing bar will push the chuck ahead, whereby therear end of the chuck always remains the same distance from the pistonbehind it after the chuck has been loaded with a nail. It will be seenthat when the bar is in its forward position, the size of the combustionchamber will be at its maximum, and the nail will be driven with theleast force possible for the particular cartridge being used.

In order to cover the slot 67 in the side of the front end of the barrelwhile the tool is being tired, and also to cover the access opening 51in the side of carrier tube 3 at the same time, a sleeve 80 is slidablymounted on the tube and barrel and is rotatably mounted on the tube. Itis prevented from rotating on the barrel by means of a cap screw 81 thatprojects from the wall of the sleeve into a longitudinal groove 82 inthe outside of the barrel, as shown in Fig. 5.

While the barrel is locked in the breechblock and the tool is beingused, the sleeve is in its rearmost position, shown in Figs. 1 and 2.While in that position, the sleeve cannot be turned in order to unlockthe barrel from the breechblock, because a positioning pin 83 projectsforward from the front end of the wall of the carrier tube 3 and into arearwardly opening recess 84 in the internal shoulder 85 that limitsrearward movement of the sleeve. The recess is formed conveniently bycutting a radial slot in the wall of the sleeve. Before the barrel canbe unlocked, the sleeve has to be slid forward a short distance to thedotted line position shown in Fig. l, to release the recess from thepositioning pin. Then the sleeve can be turned, which will rotate thebarrel and unlock the bayonet joint. The sleeve is then pushed forwardagain, but this time it moves the barrel forward with it until thebayonet boss 49 strikes the front end of opening 51 in the carrier tube,as shown in Fig. 3. The sleeve then is turned farther to cause the bossto enter a circumferential notch 86 at the front end of the tubeopening. The total rotation of the tube is After a spent cartridge hasbeen removed from the rear end of the barrel, the sleeve is pulledbackward on the barrel and tube to uncover the slot 67 n the front endof the barrel so that a nail can be inserted in the chuck, as shown inFig. 4. Boss 49 in notch 86 will prevent the barrel from moving backwith the sleeve. The sleeve is then slid forward again to its frontposition, in which a spring-pressed ball 87 projects from the sleeveinto a tapered hole 88 in the side of the barrel (Fig. 5), and thebarrel is loaded with a cartridge. The sleeve is then rotated to turnthe barrel far enough to remove the boss from the tube notch, and thenthe sleeve is pulled backward on the tube again. Due to engagement ofball 87 with barrel hole 88, the barrel is pulled back with the sleeveand the rear end of the barrel enters the front socket in thebreechblock. The sleeve is then turned to move the boss into bayonetslot 48, after which the sleeve is pulled the rest of the way back tocause the positioning pin 83 to enter the sleeve recess 84. The tool isthen ready to use again. It has the appearance of the one shown in Figs.1 and 2.

In operation, after the tool has been loaded the front end of thetubular chuck 60 is placed flat against the object into which a nail isto be driven. The hand grip 1 then is pushed forward while the grippinglever 32 is squeezed against the handle to cause the lower end of slidelever 26 to push the slide 17 forward in the stock. This will moveshoulder 43 up close to shoulders 42 on the inside of the segmentalmembers 37 and 38. As the stock is pushed further forward, movement ofthe rod through the firing collar 21 Will cause the ring spring 22 to becompressed, as shown in Fig. 9. In that figure the spring is shown fullycompressed because the stock and carrier tube 3 have been pushed forwardrelative to the breechblock 6 to a point just short of tiring. The tripring 23 is in contact with the firing collar, and the ring pin lightlyengages a blank cartridge 45 in front of it. Now, when the stock ispushed ahead slightly, the trip ring 23 will force the ring collarshoulder 43 to expand the spring compressor and slide past its shoulders42, which is permitted by the fact that the segmental members 37 and 38are anchored only at their front ends and only by a spring clip 41 thatpermits their rear ends to be forced apart. The released firing collar21 is then driven forward by the firing pin 22 with considerable forceagainst the firing cup 14, as shown by Fig. l0, which thereby is drivenforward on the rod to cause the tiring pin to detonate the percussioncap in the rear end of the cartridge. As soon as the tool is removedfrom the work, coil spring 24 will push the stock and the breechblock 6away from each other and thereby move shoulder 43 on firing collar 21back behind actuated shoulders 42 into the position shown in Fig. 8.

The tool disclosed herein is very safe to use. It can be quickly loadedwith both a cartridge and a nail without removing any of the parts.Longitudinal and a quarter turn movement is all that is necessary foropening or closing the tool. The safety prevents accidental discharge ofthe tool, but is released automatically when the handle is gripped inthe hand to use the tool. The plunger adjustment makes it possible tovary the force exerted against nails, without changing the powder chargeused in the cartridges. Therefore, one type of cartridge can be used forall work, without danger of overdriving or underdriving the nails. Thistool is especially designed for driving nails, which, of course, aredriven into wood and therefore require less driving force than studsthat are driven into concrete or metal. Accordingly, the nails aredriven by the plunger pushing against them, rather than by a free pistonthat would be propelled through the barrel at high velocity until itstruck the nails.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, we have explainedthe principle of our invention and have illustrated and described whatwe now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, we desire tohave it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, theinvention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustratedand described.

We claim:

1. An explosively actuated driving tool comprising a stock, a carriertube supported by the stock and extending forward therefrom, abreechblock disposed at the rear end of the tube and provided with anaxial passage, a barrel slidably mounted in the tube and projecting fromits front end, the rear end of the barrel being provided with acartridge-receiving chamber in line with said passage, the breechblockand the rear end of the barrel normally being locked together by a jointthat requires the barrel to be rotated relative to the breechblock toopen the joint, a firing pin carried by the stock in line with saidpassage for detonating a cartridge in said chamber, a sleeve slidablyand rotatably mounted on the tube and slidably mounted on the barrel,means locking the sleeve against rotation on the tube when the sleeve isin its rear position, the barrel being rotatable in the tube to unlockit from the breechblock, and means connecting the sleeve and barrel forrotation of the barrel in the tube by the sleeve after the sleeve hasbeen moved forward a short distance to release said sleeve-lockingmeans, whereby to unlock the barrel from the breechblock so that thesleeve and barrel can be moved forward together to a front position tospace the barrel from the breechblock, and the side of said tube beingprovided with an opening between the spaced barrel and breechblockgiving access to the rear end of said cartridge chamber for loading andunloading.

2. A tool according to claim 1, including means for holding the barrelin its front position while the sleeve is slid backward to uncover thefront end portion of the barrel, and means in the front end of thebarrel for holding a fastener to be driven by the tool.

3. A tool according to claim 1, including means for holding the barrelin its front position while the sleeve is slid backward to uncover thefront end portion of the barrel, said front end portion being providedwith a longitudinal slot, and a fastener-receiving chuck in the barrelaccessible through said slot.

4. A tool according to claim 3, in which said chuck is slidable in thebarrel within predetermined limits.

5. A tool according to claim 1, including means for holding the barrelin its front position while the sleeve is slid backward to uncover thefront end portion of the barrel, said front end portion being providedwith a longitudinal slot, and a fastener-receiving chuck in the barrelaccessible through said slot, said chuck being tubular and provided withlongitudinally extending slots open at their rear ends, the inside ofthe chuck adjacent its rear end being provided with a rearwardly facingshoulder for engagement by the head of a nail extending forward throughthe chuck.

6. A tool according to claim 1, including means for holding the barrelin its front position while the sleeve is slid backward to uncover thefront end portion of the barrel, means in the front end of the barrelfor holding a fastener to be driven by the tool, and a plunger in thebarrel adapted to substantially engage the fastener and to be drivenforward by the cartridge when it is detonated.

7. A tool according to claim 1, including means for holding the barrelin its front position while the sleeve is slid backward to uncover thefront end portion of the barrel, said front end portion being providedwith a longitudinal slot, a chuck slidably mounted in the barrel andaccessible through said slot and adapted to receive a nail, meanslimiting outward movement of the chuck in the barrel and a plunger inthe barrel having a front end 'adjacent the rear end of the chuck andadapted to substantially engage the head of a nail therein, said plungerbeing adapted to be driven forward when the cartridge is red.

8. An explosively actuated driving tool comprising a stock, a carriertube supported by the stock and extending forward therefrom, abreechblock disposed at the rear end of the tube and provided with anaxial passage, a barrel slidably mounted in the tube and projecting fromits front end, the rear end of the barrel being provided with acartridge-receiving chamber in line with said passage, the breechblockand the rear end of the barrel normally being locked together by a jointthat requires the barrel to be rotated relative to the breechblock toopen the joint, a ring pin carried by the stock in line with saidpassage for detonating a cartridge in said chamber, a sleeve slidablyand rotatably mounted on the tube and slidably mounted on the barrel andprovided in its side wall with a rearwardly opening recess, apositioning pin projecting forward from the tube into said recess tolock the sleeve against rotation on the tube when the sleeve is in itsrear position, the barrel being rotatable in the tube to unlock it fromthe breechblock, and means connecting the sleeve and barrel for rotationof the barrel in the tube by the sleeve after the sleeve has been movedforward a short distance to move said recess away from said positioningpin, whereby to unlock the barrel from the breechblock so that thesleeve and barrel can be moved forward together to space the barrel fromthe breechblock, and the side of said tube being provided with anopening between the spaced barrel and breechblock giving access to therear end of said cartridge chamber for loading and unloading.

9. An explosively actuated driving tool comprising a stock, a carriertube supported by the stock and extending forward therefrom, abreechblock disposed at the rear end of the tube and provided with anaxial passage, a barrel slidably mounted in the tube and projecting fromits front end, the rear end of the barrel being provided with acartridge-receiving chamber in line with said passage, the breechblockand the rear end of the barrel being provided with a bayonet jointnormally locking them together, a firing pin carried by the stock inline with said passage for detonating a cartridge in said chamber, asleeve slidably and rotatably mounted on the tube and slidably mountedon the barrel, means locking the sleeve against rotation on the tubewhen the sleeve is in its rear position, the barrel being rotatable inthe tube to disconnect said bayonet joint, and means connecting thesleeve and barrel for rotation of the barrel in the tube by the sleeveafter the sleeve has been moved forward a short distance to release saidsleeve-locking means, whereby to unlock the barrel from the breechblockso that the slteve and barrel can be moved forward together to a frontposition to space the barrel from the breechblock, and the side of saidtube being provided with an opening between the spaced barrel andbreechblock giving access to the rear end of said cartridge chamber forloading and unloading. l

10. A tool according to claim 9, in which said bayonet joint includes aradial projection on the barrel and a barrel-receiving socket at thefront end of the breechblock provided with a circumferential slot in itsside wall for receiving said projection, and the side wall of said tubeopening is provided at its front end with a circumferential notch forreceiving said barrel projection to hold the barrel in its frontposition while the sleeve is slid backward over said access opening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,445,126 Bergman Feb. 13, 1923 2,030,803 Temple Feb. l1, 1936 2,479,431Temple Aug. 16, 1949 2,622,243 Temple et al Dec. 23, 1952 2,705,323Bossong Apr. 5, 1955 2,719,300 Walker Oct. 4, 1955 2,778,020 Erickson etal Jan. 22, 1957 2,790,174 Magnuson Apr. 30, 1957

